I had to calm the butterflies in my stomach and just hope it wouldn’t happen today. Nine times out of ten Ziegfried would find something else to test, and the re-launch would be set back once again. I was almost too excited.īut I had to tether that excitement. Today, just a few days after my fifteenth birthday, it would finally go back in the water. Now, with this shiny new blue-black coat of paint, and the dolphin-like nose that Ziegfried had welded to the front, the sub looked more like a sea mammal than a submarine. We had installed a bigger, more powerful diesel engine, more industrial batteries and a new propeller with aggressive torque. His latest obsession - to make the sub faster - had kept us hard at work all winter long. Ziegfried, master inventor and junkyard genius, was right about ninety-nine percent of the time. Two days earlier, we had sprayed the final coat of a sophisticated, slippery paint that was supposed to reduce drag and make the sub five-percent faster through the water. There, suspended in the air like a whale lifted out of an aquarium, was my submarine. It had been a long winter in the boathouse and they were anxious to go to sea. This, this feathered and furry pair, was my crew - a dog and a seagull. He was chewing the rubber handle of a hammer into tiny soggy pieces. When he saw me open my eyes he hopped from foot to foot and glared at me. Then I thought, well … maybe I could find it. Why would people talk about something for so long if it never existed? So I figured it probably did. The thing is, people have never stopped talking about it. Now everyone wonders if it ever really existed. All of it disappeared in a single day, without a trace. It dragged it down to the bottom with everyone and everything in it. It really deserves its place in Sea World history.Thirty-five hundred years ago the sea swallowed a rich and powerful island. Going under the drop, you turn to the right and then your left into the final splashdown area.Īlthough this Journey to Atlantis isn't as highly themed as the one in Orlando with the same name, or as short as the newer one in San Antonio, it is still unique with an elevator lift and a great storyline. After seeing a great view of the parking lot, you plunge into a curving drop to the right. During this segment, you feel like you're swaying down an ocean current. An elevator lift raises the boat to the top of the next drop which is used by coaster tracks. To your left, there is a video screen showing an ocean with fish and other sea creatures. Suspense builds as the lift gets ready mechanically. After a slow 'U' turn and other curves where people with quarters can take a water shot at you, the boat enters the show building. You will get wet at the bottom of the drop. Once cresting the lift hill, you take a 135 degree turn and pause before plunging down the first drop, where the on-ride photo is taken. During the lift, more of the story is being told through the speakers on the catwalks. It looks very rustic and ruined, fitting well into the Greek mythology theme.Īfter loading the boat, which holds up to eight passengers, you go straight into the lift. It has numerous wordings on the hull, to make it look abandoned.

The station, however, is not indoors and doesn't even have a roof over it. The queue is mostly indoors and is themed to tell part of the storyline about the mythology of Atlantis. The entrance to this attraction can be found in the far right corner of the park, and its brilliant bright blue track can be seen from the parking lot. San Antonio’s, on the other hand, isn’t themed as much and is the shortest of the three. The one in Orlando is heavily themed and is the same length as this one. The water coaster that MACK builds is a mixture of a flume ride and roller coaster. The ride was built by MACK, who has also built the other Journey to Atlantis’s at Sea World Orlando and Sea World San Antonio. Opened on May 29, 2004, the ride is 95 feet tall, has a maximum speed of 42 mph, and is five minutes long. This water coaster has some first of a kind elements like an elevator lift in a tower and the swaying of the boat in the current as it lifts to the surface. Their one and only coaster, Jou rney to Atlantis, is the star attraction and is very unique as well. Sea World San Diego is not the biggest park in the world nor does it have the most roller coasters.

Journey to atlantis